willard



G. WILLARD.

Car Seat and Couch.

Patented May 6, 1856.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFTQE.

GEO. WILLARD, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF AND N. W. C. JAMESON.

RAILROAD- CAR SEAT.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 14,841, dated May 6, 1856.

To all 'wlwm it may concern Be it known that I, GEORGE VILLARD, of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Chairs for Railway- Carriages; and I do hereby declare that the same is fully described and represented in the following specification and the accompanying drawings of which- Figure 1, represents a side elevation of one of my improved car chairs; Fig. 2, a front view of the same; Fig. 3, a central vertical and longitudinal section of it; Fig. 4, a longitudinal section of its head rest and the support thereof; Fig. 5, a back view of the head rest and its support.

In these drawings, A exhibits a chair having a seat, a, a back, 6, and arms, 0, a formed and upholstered in the usual way. B is the metallic stand by which the chair is fastened to the floor of the railway carriage. This stand is provided with a cylindrical socket d, in which rests and plays an upright turning journal 0, which is so applied to the socket, as to be capable of being rotated horizontally therein. To the said journal and seat of the chair, I apply what may be termed the seat holder C, it being a bar of metal provided with two mortises g, n, arrange-d divergent to one another as seen in Fig. 3, one of them, viz., 9, being at right angles with the seat, while the other is disposed at an acute angle to it as shown in said figure. WVith these mortises a tenon 2', on the upper end of the journal 0, operates, said tenon being furnished with a stud or projection k, which extends into a U groove Z, formed and arranged in the seat holder as seen in Fig. 1. The object of this groove and the stud of the tenon of the journal is notonly to maintain the journal in connection with the seat holder, but to guide the tenon from one mortise or socket to the other, in order that the chair seat may be fixed in either a horizontal or an inclined position as represented by dotted lines in Figs. 1 and 3.

In case the chair may be disposed horizontally and we 'desire to throw it backward into an inclined position we have only to lay hold of the arms and lift the chair body until the tenon is raised out of the vertical mortise. Then by pushing back the chair a little, we force the inclined mortise over the tenon and we can drop the chair so as to permit the tenon to pass up into the said inclined mortise.

To the stand B, a spring bolt D is applied as seen in Fig. 2, it being operated by means of a treadle lever E. The bolt passes through the socket (Z, and enters a recess formed in the journal 6, and when in said recess the journal is locked or prevented from being turned horizontally. Such recesses are made on opposite sides of the journal as seen in Fig. 6, which is a section of the stand and journal.

From the stand B, a set of lateral bearers or struts F, F, project as seen in Figs. 1 and 2. To operate with them I apply to the bottom of the seat two legs G, G, each of which is provided with two feet or rests m, 'n, which by resting on the lateral bearers when the chair seat is either in a horizontal or in clined position serve to give additional support to the seat, as well as to remove lateral strain from the journal and its socket. There are also extended from the stand B, and in opposite directions to each other, too struts H, H, which respectively support at their upper ends, two horizontal cross bars or foot rests I, I, one of which serves to support the feet of a sitter on the chair when it is in an inclined position. The other rest answers to support the feet of a person, who may be sitting on a chair placed directly in rear of that in question. This latter foot rest also answers the purpose of the former when the chair to which it is affixed, is turned around or reversed in position, or so, that a person sitting in it may face in an opposite direction. A third leg or support K, extends down from the seat holder C, and is arranged as seen in Figs. 1 and 3. This leg rests on the top of the back strut II, when the seat of the chair is inclined backward.

In the different drawings L, exhibits a movable head rest applied .to the upper part of the back of the chair and sustained by a tenon 0, which enters a mortise 2, made downward in the chair frame. This tenon extends from an inclined rest, g, to which the head rest is applied by means of a dovetail connection or slide, 1", and so that the head rest may be moved in two directions whenever it is moved on its rest 9, that is to say, when it is being depressed, it will move toward the neck of an individual who may be seated in the chair. When the said head rest is being elevated on its support, it will move away from the neck of the person sitting in the chair. A screw 8, extending through the support of the head rest, and against the said head rest, as seen in Fig. 3,

serves to confine the head rest in any posi= tion or at any desirable elevation.

From the above, it will be perceived that I have not only applied to the seat and its journal, a new means of sustaining said seat in either a horizontal or an inclined position, but I have also added to the seat and its stand, lateral supports F, F, and G, G, whereby the journal and socket, as well as the tenon of said journal are relieved from injurious lateral leverage or strain. Furthermore, it will be perceived, that I have also added to the stand, B, two independent foot rests so applied to it, that while one of them may serve to support the feet of a person, who may be in the chair, the other may be used to give support to. the feet of a per- 1sion sitting in a chair placed in rear of the rst.

According to the common method of applying foot rests to the supporting stand of a railway seat, they are not arranged so as to give support to the feet of the sitter on said seat, they being placed or disposed in such a relation to the chair or seat either in front or in rear of their seat, as to serve as supports to persons who may be in rear of said seat.

What I claim as my invention, is as follows:

1. I claim the combination of the divergent mcrtises, g, h, or their equivalent, the guide groove Z, and the projection 70, as applied to the seat holder, C, and the journal, 6, provided with a tenon as specified and arranged in a stand, B, substantially as explained.

2. I also claim combining with supporting socket or stand, B, and'the chair seat or chair, the lateral bearers, F, F, and legs, G, G, each provided with feet, m, n, the same being for the purpose hereinbefore specified.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my signature this 26th day of January 1856.

GEORGE l/VILLARD.

Witnesses:

R. H. EDDY, F. P. HALE, Jr. 

